Aug 28 2014
American Megatrends, Inc., (AMI), a leader in BIOS, remote management and data storage innovations, is pleased to announce that AMI VitalsFit™, a smart wireless health monitoring tool created by Team Davantri, a group within the company's Indian subsidiary, American Megatrends India Pvt. Ltd., has been selected as a Top 10 Finalist entry in the prestigious Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE Competition.
Notably, Team Davantri is the only Indian team entered in the competition, measuring itself against entries from US, Canadian and European teams.
The goal of the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE Competition is to create a device that puts "Healthcare in the Palm of Your Hand" to easily monitor a battery of vital statistics which include blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate and temperature, as well as health conditions such Atrial Fibulation, Sleep Apnea, Stroke, Diabetes and the like. Additionally, the competition stipulates that the device must be compact and portable, comprising no more than 5 pounds (2.72 kg). The winner of the competition will receive a $10 million award, to be announced in January 2016.
AMI VitalsFit, the entry from Team Davantri, is a smart wireless handheld health monitor that features a 3-Lead ECG electrode to measure ECG signals from the finger, Pulse Oximeter, an infrared temperature sensor, camera, 3-Axis accelerometer for monitoring physical activity and Glucometer strip attachment node, as well as Bluetooth connectivity, display and battery. The AMI VitalsFit device can also calculate Respiration Rate and Blood Pressure from the ECG and Pulse Oximeter data. Expansion support is provided by a microHDMI connector, allowing for connection of an Anemia detector probe and microUSB cable for charging the device. Additional peripheral devices for AMI VitalsFit include a wireless Spirometer, neckband ECG/EEG meter, Otoscope and Urine Sample analyzer. The unit also comes with a standalone NiBP, SPO2 and temperature measure unit for continuous monitoring of key vital health statistics.
American Megatrends President and CEO, Subramonian Shankar, expressed his pleasure about the team's accomplishment by saying, "We are excited for the visibility this Top 10 selection brings to Team Davantri, AMI India and to our global American Megatrends team. But most importantly, we feel humbled by the opportunity to join this competition - the end result of which will be a portable health monitoring device that can have an enormous impact on the well-being of all humanity, particularly in remote and rural areas not traditionally served well by current health monitoring methods."
Team Davantri leader Sridharan Mani, who is also the CEO of American Megatrends India, had this to say about the selection of AMI VitalsFit: "We are absolutely thrilled with our selection as one of the top 10 finalists of this prestigious competition - and we would like to express our gratitude to the judges and the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE committee for providing us with an opportunity to prove our capabilities. This selection validates all of our hard work and the support and encouragement of the entire American Megatrends staff around the globe. Team Davantri symbolizes the expertise that AMI is known for, in areas as diverse as board and device-level design and integration, mobile app and interface design, as well as the software development and mathematics behind it that brings it all together.
"We are proud to be a part of this quest for a healthcare innovation that can change the world and, as the competition mandates, our efforts are in full swing to develop and perfect a portable device that will assist individuals in diagnosing their health conditions in minutes, wherever they are. We intend to make this device commercially viable and affordable, so that it can reach and help every strata of society.
"Our team name takes after the Hindu God Danvantri, who is credited as the first surgeon and holds the rejuvenating nectar of life that turns mortals into immortals. We want to create a healthy, happy world and I am confident that my team will make this a reality."
Team Danvantri takes great pride in being the only Indian team to participate in this global competition to develop a consumer-focused medical diagnostic device. "The idea of the XPRIZE competition is to make the impossible possible. We are working hard at integrating our device with a 'health cloud' solution based on a Hadoop cluster for storage and data analytics. We are also developing and integrating several new functions that will make this device a true life companion," announced the team at the news of their selection.
To learn more about AMI VitalsFit™ and Team Davantri, visit the AMI VitalsFit website at: http://www.vitalsplus.com/vitalsfit/
For more information on the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE competition, see: http://www.qualcommtricorderXPRIZE.org/
To read a recent article from The Times of India newspaper on Team Davantri's participation in the competition, see: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Indian-team-in-global-competition-to-build-powerful-home-medical-device/articleshow/40487838.cms